


Caged Lions

by Dr_Chalk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Feels, Gen, this is gonna be a ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 09:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13877958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Chalk/pseuds/Dr_Chalk
Summary: Five teenagers who have locked themselves away in their rooms finds each other via online communication. As they form a group chat and slowly get to know each other, they find that they can confide in each other, and the outside world doesn't seem as far away as before.





	1. ---

_It was a stroke of luck in their miserable lives that they had found people to address as friends on the same boat. Odd sorts of friendships had blossomed via online communication, and boy, did this allow the five to escape from the harsh reality waiting outside the door of their cozy rooms that they sheltered themselves in. These five are, of course, Allura, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith. They could have done well out in the world, very well in fact, but certain obstacles were best left unchallenged and avoided in their eyes. After all, why leave the room if you are perfectly safe and happy in it? Maybe some would disagree and say that they should see the outside world and face it with their chin up and confidence high, but it simply wasn’t that easy for them. Hunk was big in size his exterior clearly displayed the build of a wrestler’s, but his insides were not as tough as his outsides. Lance was talkative and playful to an extent that one would address as extreme, but this did not reflect any of his vulnerabilities. Pidge was sassy and probably the most intelligent person one would ever meet, but trauma had locked them away in a cage they could not outsmart. Keith was over and over faced with horrid luck, and even with some good finally offered to him, he could not make himself embrace it. Allura was graceful, assertive, and headstrong, yet the outside world seemed too bloodied for her to even take a single step in. Nothing was easy for them, and every little chore was a greater challenge than it needed to be. Yet maybe, just maybe, with the right amount of push from each other and some outside support, they could finally bathe in the sun again._


	2. It's a Bit Brighter Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of something that they would have never imagined to happen one day.

A boy lazily climbed out of his bed, wearing a blue robe over his white tank top and navy pajama pants that stopped at his knees. With his eyelids still loose and his mind barely awake, he walked towards his computer groggily, as if it was a natural habit, almost like a homing system. Powerlessly, he sunk down into his chair, cracked his knuckles with his eyes still not entirely open and woke his computer up from its power nap with a gentle mashing of the keyboard. As the screen spewed its bright light in the boy’s face, his features became far more visible, even if he had winced and wrinkled his face at the sudden increase in brightness. His skin was the colour of hazelnut latte fresh from the coffee machine, and his hair was the colour of rich chocolate. His ocean blue eyes were made even bluer by the light of the computer spilling onto it, but only when his wincing wasn’t shielding his irises from the glowing rays. After his eyes finally adjusted, the boy let his eyes travel to the clock in the computer. Three in the afternoon. Not too bad. The fact that all of his windows were usually shielded by slate blue curtains meant that his room would stay dark most of the time, which also meant that it was hard for the boy to tell the time. His stomach growled with hunger as the thought that it was already three in the afternoon revisited him, and right on time his mother opened the door to his room.

“Lance? Are you awake?” She called after the boy ever so gently, holding a tray of breakfast that was prepared for him.

“Oh- good morning!” Surprised at the perfect timing of his mother’s arrival, he quickly turned to face his mother, his chair spinning towards her as his fingers gripped the edge of his seat’s plush cushion.

“Good morning to you too sweetie! I made you an omelet, some bacon, and a fruit cup for today! How does that sound for breakfast, hmm?” Lance’s mother smiled sweetly at her son, yellow light leaking into his room from where she had opened the door slightly to deliver the boy’s meal to him, illuminating the floor and enriching the boy’s colours with warmth. Compared to the pale blue light of the monitor he usually bathed himself in, the light from outside of his room, yellow from the living room’s lightbulb and the sunlight which he knew always poured into the house, made him look so much more lively, turning his skin to a warm gold and making his eyes glitter like an ocean in the midst of a sunrise. And yet he rejected it continuously, unable to let himself escape his pale blue, despite the crushing guilt he felt for giving his family a hard time by shelling himself in like a tortoise.

“That sounds wonderful, mom.” Lance reflected his mother’s smile back at her, a smile reflecting both sorrow and genuine gratitude.

“Alright, I’ll be off then! Tell me when you finish so I can clean up your meal, alright?”

Lance’s lips smiled at the closing door with love, yet his eyes were swimming with so much more than just that.

“Sorry mom.” He murmured as the door shut softly.

His mood now rather down in the dumps, he abruptly span his chair around to face his computer once more, his legs crossed on top of his seat. Desperate to distract himself from feeling this way, Lance immediately opened a game on his screen. It was a game he was playing rather often nowadays, an MMORPG which took place in a world that could mainly be described as the very embodiment of the sci-fi genre, with a sprinkle of fantasy to top it off. He had been playing this game for quite a few months, and had brought together a small party as well over the course of playing it. They would usually go for raids everyday, yelling instructions at each other whenever boss battles became intense or hooting loudly when they finally managed to defeat what was seemingly an endless chain of quests. It was a small party of five, Lance included, but nonetheless it was a fun party to be in. Eager to talk to his four teammates again, he immediately slipped on his headset, sent out the usual party invites, and waited for them to join. Almost immediately, all of them jumped into the party, accepting Lance’s request. They were always very quick like that.

“Alright good mornin’ everyone, what are we gonna do first today?” Lance asked, chuckling. Right away, a graceful and composed voice replied to him.

“Who knows, perhaps we could go for the dungeon on planet V-6? I heard that it’s quite difficult to complete it!”

“Oooh, we are totally doing that one in hard mode.” A more childish voice filled with mischief gave its response, a small cackle noticeable in between its words.

“No way we are going there, I heard that place is absolutely horrendous to get through!” The familiar voice of a shivering boy made its way to everyone’s ears, making them laugh a little. A slightly more raspy and monotone voice grabbed everyone’s attention soon after.

“Whatever, it’s not like there are any penalties for failing anyway. Besides, we have a pretty well-established team,” the raspy voice suggested, and Lance nodded in agreement despite the fact that nobody was able to see him nod. But it was indeed true, Lance had made sure to gather diverse members for his party. HunkleberryFin (god forbid he ever say that username out loud, so he always just called him Hunk.) was their tank, Queencess (a mutated baby of a queen and a princess apparently) was their mage, CooCooTrain (Lance assumed that was a pigeon joke, he usually called her CC for convenience) was their assassin, Keith (He would never understand how a person could come up with such a plain and obvious username) was their swordsman, and he, LanceyLance (now that was a stroke of genius right there), was the sharpshooter.

“So, are we going for the dungeon or what?” Keith asked. Everybody said a word or two in agreement, and they all warped to the dungeon site. Lance scratched the back of his head as he waited for his game to load.

“Say, how is it that everyone here is always so quick to accept party invitations? I mean, it’s almost like you are all on this game for the majority of your life!”

“Probably because we are, dumb dumb.” CC replied, sass dripping from her voice.

“But, how? Don’t you go to school, or something? Or have work to do?” Lance asked.

Suddenly, everyone dropped silent, and Lance knew that he had messed up somehow. It was not in his place to ask anyways. After all, he himself had not been attending school for quite a while now, completely holed up in the binding arms of a room dimly lit with blue, always refusing to step out into the golden light and let it bathe him in its life once more, refusing to let the sea breeze blow his hair around again and tousle it until it looks like someone gave him a rather rough and affectionate rub on the head.

“Yeah, um, sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that. It’s kind of out of a shut-in’s place to ask that kind of question anyway.” Lance replied in a regretful manner, fidgeting with his own thumb as he sighed downwards. Inside his mind, he was yelling at his past self for being an idiot for overstepping his limits. He was basically a killer telling off a shoplifter for taking a lollipop from the candy store without paying, a kid covered in mud telling a kid with a smudge of paint on their elbow that they are unhygienic. Those would be accurate analogies. He could have gone on and on within his mind, but a small fake cough from Hunk snapped Lance back to attention.

“Well, hey, my man, I mean, if it makes you feel any better, I’m… kind of a shut-in... too?”

Hunk said this so meekly that at first that everyone was simply silent, as if they had heard nothing but the background echo of someone rushing by. Then, they bursted back to life again, and everyone talked with such immense relief residing in their voices and a newfound sense of relaxation overtook everybody in a wave, washing them clean of their burdens, even if for a small moment.

“Well, that makes three of us.”

“Me four.”

“Make that five!”

Puzzled beyond comprehension at this sudden development, Lance stared at his screen dumbfoundedly, a wide grin slowly appearing on his face. He couldn’t believe it. Of all the people he could have brought together, he had brought together people on the same boat as him, people who were similar to him.

“Oh my god. I don’t know how but I somehow pulled this off.” Lance uttered, his pitch higher than usual and his words slurred as if he was in a daze. There was a loud slam of a desk that drew everyone’s attention. Lance’s eyes darted to the list of usernames, discovering a speaker symbol next to the username “Queencess,” indicating that it was in fact she who had slammed the table, and quite loudly as well. Lance could feel his head still ringing from the sudden noise. Or was that just him being unable to process the situation?

“Alright, don’t tell me someone disagrees with me making small group chat for all of us. After all, this is almost as if destiny pulled us together, you know? This is going to be excellent, I can feel it in my bones, right there, I can feel it!” Lance wasn’t able to see what Queen was doing as she happily chattered into the microphone, but he was sure that she was standing up and skipping around, her eyes glittering with enthusiasm and her cheeks tinted a vibrant and luminous pink with excitement. Mostly because he could hear her feet bounce around the floor of her room. Then, she typed away at her computer, and in a surprisingly short period of time she had already finished sending everyone a certain link.

“Well then? Click it!”

Everyone was sure that she was beaming. After all, everybody else was beaming too.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome! I hope on continuing this series and letting it see its end, and I really wish that many people would come along with me on this ride. It won't always be flowers and sunshine here, sure, but flowers and sunshine are the end goal. https://dr-chalk.tumblr.com/ <== this is my tumblr, I will be posting short comics or pictures of this story, feel free to follow if you want to see those kinds of content! Once again, thank you for clicking on this fic, and I hope you'll have as much fun as I will!


End file.
